FLASHBACK – Bryan Ansell’s Origins of Warhammer?
Want to learn all about the origins of Warhammer from the man who started and owned Games Workshop? Step right up!
Way back in the day Games Workshop started out as a company that imported and re-sold RPG books such as D&D and more.
30 plus years later it’s morphed into the company we know today. I’ll admit I only have a handful of GW knowledge starting in the late 80’s but it’s nothing compared to the recollections of one time Games Workshop and Citadel owner Bryan Ansell.
For instance, did you know that Warhammer was almost originally called ‘Battleblade’?
Or this tasty excerpt on the Origins of the Chaos gods:
RoC80s/CC: Where did the names Khorne, Slaanesh, Tzeentch and Nurgle originate?
BA: Nurgle is an “actual” god (honest). Nergal is a Babylonian god who goes back to prehistoric times: he was still around to be worshipped by the Assyrians. I changed the spelling because I thought that “Nurgle” was more amusing. Also, it could be the sound of a death rattle, or air being expelled from a rotting, putrescent carcass. Nergal is god of death, disease and pestilence. Also god of war and ruler of the underworld (or sometimes his wife is). As he’s been around for a very long time his attributes have changed back and forth over the years. I’m sure he’s extremely pleased that we are still thinking of him. Perhaps with all this attention we might eventually conjure up a physical manifestation.
Khorne was derived from Conan’s “Crom”, who is an “actual” Celtic god who can also be spelt Krom or Khram. Good name for a war god.
Slaanesh was meant to be a sibilant, erotic, breathy, whispered/murmured sound. The models didn’t turn out quite as erotically charged as I’d hoped.
Tzeentch was meant to be the sound of a spell blasting out. Like in a Dr Strange comic. It also has a sort of Aztec feel: which goes with the feathers and the bright pastel colours.
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If that alone is enough to peak your curiosity, you will really love the interview Realm of Chaos did with Bryan a few months ago.
~So what’s the most surprising thing you learned?
